June 9 almost OVER

[johno_1960]

I planted lettuce today, in extremely hot weather. I’ve been filling the bottom of the containers with wood from the decaying woodpile left over from the cutdown tree project of 10 years ago. It’s been good hard wood, but years of rain, snow and sprinklers have given a lot of mice and insects a nice habitat. Now that I am retired, I’m spending a lot more time digging up things around the house. I have never been happier. I have my time back. I answer to no one. I read and write, and am trying to put my life in order.

I’m reconnecting with my people all over, now that I have been stripped of my place at the center of the glorious Boise music scene. Easy come, easy go, I say. Going forward without “progressing,” or worse, grinding. It’s kind of a collapse of sorts. I’m avoiding the rush, as my man ecosophia John Michael Greer would advise!

Comments

mice

[kallianeira]

Just what I was wondering when planning to have trees felled at my place. What does one do about the resulting mouse house?
Okay, there are mice here already. But I dread how bad they can become when living in a better and safer place than I do.

Re: mice

[johno_1960]

The mice are usually good neighbors, doing their own thing out there in the world, but I keep the woodpiles away from the house, and along the fence line.
That, and the neighborhood cats, keep things in balance.
Be sure to thank the trees for their service. I was surprised at how emotional we were at their removal.

Re: mice

[kallianeira]

Thank you for the tips.
My local council comes down hard on residents with long grass in their front yards, claiming it harbours "vermin". Naturally, long grass behind the fence, and woodpiles, do too, and neither are targeted in that way.

I suppose Idaho gets rodent plagues? There was one the year before I moved here. They have nothing to do with the number of woodpiles.

And yes, I am already ambivalent about removing trees, but some of them threaten to fall and cause damage. And others are preventing smaller plants from growing. I will thank them. Gardening is a tough job. You need to be ruthless.

Re: mice

[johno_1960]

We were in the same place. At some point in the past the trees were trimmed very poorly, and each tree was trying to rev-establish some kind of equilibrium. So they came down. I should have had a priestess come out and bless them, but I was unaware of such things then. I have tried to tread lighter since then.